Management Incentive Plans in Private Equity Explained
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerA management incentive plan (MIP) is the equity-based scheme through which a private equity-backed company’s management team shares in the value they help create — aligning leaders’ interests with the investors’ around a successful outcome. It is a central feature of PE-backed businesses, designed to […]
Value Creation in Private Equity: The Role of Leadership
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerValue creation in private equity is how investors grow the value of a business over their ownership — through growth, improvement, and strategic change — to achieve a strong return. Leadership is central to it: the management team executes the value-creation plan, so getting leadership […]
How to Hire a Handbags & Leather Goods Executive
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerHire handbags and leather goods leaders who combine genuine product, craft, and design expertise with luxury or fashion brand capability, matched to where the brand sits. The category is built on craftsmanship, desirability, and often significant value per product, so the best leaders understand the […]
How to Hire a Lingerie & Intimates Executive
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerHire lingerie and intimates leaders who combine genuine product and design capability — including the technical demands of fit — with brand sensibility attuned to the category’s intimate, personal, and increasingly inclusive nature. The best pair a feel for beautiful, well-fitting products and the confidence […]
How to Hire a Denim Executive
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerHire denim leaders who combine genuine product and craft expertise — denim is a technical, craft-driven product — with fashion and brand sensibility and the commercial capability to compete in a global, competitive category. The best understand denim’s blend of heritage, craft, and fashion, and […]
Managing Up: A Skill Senior Leaders Still Need
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerManaging up means working effectively with those you report to — a boss, a CEO, or a board — by understanding what they need, communicating well, building trust, and making the relationship productive. Far from being political, done well it is about a genuine, effective […]
Leading With Data: What It Really Means
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerLeading with data means using data and evidence genuinely to inform decisions and understand the business — while combining it with judgement, not replacing judgement with it. Done well, it grounds leadership in reality and improves decisions; done poorly, it becomes either data for show […]
Leading in a Downturn: What It Takes
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerLeading in a downturn means guiding a business through difficult, uncertain conditions — protecting its health through decisive, disciplined action while keeping sight of the long term, and leading people with honesty and steadiness through hard times. It takes clear-eyed realism, financial and operational discipline, […]
Emotional Intelligence in Leadership: Why It Matters
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerEmotional intelligence in leadership is the ability to understand and manage one’s own emotions and to understand and work well with others’ — self-awareness, self-management, empathy, and social skill. It matters because leadership is exercised through people, and leaders with genuine emotional intelligence build trust, […]
Competency-Based Interviewing Explained
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerCompetency-based interviewing assesses candidates by asking for specific, real examples of past behaviour against the competencies a role requires — on the principle that past behaviour is the best guide to future performance. It brings evidence and structure to interviewing, and used well, with rigorous […]
